Author and blogger Jeremy Scahill joined Melissa Harris-Perry on her MSNBC show to discuss the recent Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris, questioning the role Islam played in the brutal killings and downplaying Islamic terrorists as a threat altogether.

“In Minneapolis there’s been very racist targeting of the Somali community. Yes, there are Somali-Americans who have gone to Somalia and acted as suicide bombers. This is a very serious problem that these groups are calling on young Westerners to do this,” Scahill said. “But the response has been, quite frankly, racist and Islamophobic. We need to develop a better way to address what is actually a relatively minor threat in our society, given all the other threats that we’re facing.”

After reaffirming the JV narrative, Scahill tried to make light of Amedy Coulibaly – the Paris gunman who killed four hostages in a supermarket – who is on video proclaiming his allegiance to the Islamic caliphate.

He jokes that Coulibaly looked like an amateur with an automatic weapon doing pushups and can barely speak any Arabic.

Scahill ended the discussion by attempting to disassociate these acts from self-proclaimed Islamic militants.

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“I’ve been talking to sources within AQAP [al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula], they tell me that they, at least one of the brothers [Said and Cherif Kouachi who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attacks] was there, that there was training involved,” Scahill said. “AQAP has been very public in saying let’s go kill these kinds of cartoonists, let’s assassinate them.”

“I would be very careful, though, in saying this is an ISIS event, this is an AQAP event,” Scahill concluded. “What I think is more likely is that there’s a hybrid of having, been around these characters, been around these groups, but then making your own plot and doing it.”